Yarn feeding means for raschel knitting machines



KUNZI INABI Oct. 1, 1968 YARN FEEDING MEANS FOR RASCHEL KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 5, 1967 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,403,536 YARN FEEDING MEANS FOR RASCHEL KNITTING MACHINES Kunzi Inabi, Ono, Japan, assignor to Yamamoto Machinery Works Co., Ltd., Morita, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Mar. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 620,298 6 Claims. (CI. 66-86) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A Raschel type of warp knitting machine having a plurality of independently oscillatable hangers mounted on a common axis supporting sets of yarn guides to traverse the sets of yarn guides transversely of the needle bed.

The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting and more particularly to an improvement in yarn feeding means for the Raschel type of straight warp knitting machines.

It is an object of the present invention to provide yarn feeding means in Raschel machines whereby the yarn feeding terminal eyes of all of the yarn guides of the machine, which are supported by a plurality of independently oscillatable yarn guide hangers, are caused to traverse the same arcuate path transversely of the needle bed. As a result of such improved yarn guide motion, the yarns themselves, as they are fed to the latch needles of the machine, are caused to assume a more desirable feeding angle with respect to the needles and to minimize the danger of any yarn being undesirably caught beneath the needle latches.

Other objects as well as the advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof as shown in the accompanying drawing and as pointed out in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a Raschel type of straight warp knitting machine with the present invention incorporated therein and showing a plurality of independently oscillatable hangers supported by and in position to oscillate on or with a common shaft disposed directly above and parallel to the needle bar of the machine.

FIG. 2 is a detail view showing one of the hangers of the machine in two positions relative to the common supporting shaft.

FIG. 3 is a detail view, similar to FIG. 2, showing another of the hangers of the machine in two positions on the common supporting shaft.

In the drawings, the frame of a Raschel type of straight warp knitting machine is shown at 1 with vertically extending plates 2 suitably secured thereto and which support a lengthwise extending trick plate 3 adjacent to which a lengthwise extending needle bar 4, containing a series of latch needles 5, is adapted to move vertically to knit courses of the fabric after suitable ones of the plurality of yarns, indicated collectively at 6, have been selectively fed to the needles.

These yarns 6 are fed to the needles by series of yarn guides 7, 7, the yarn guiding terminal eyes of which are arranged in arcuate form along the arc-shaped line 8. The guides 7, 7 are supported by a plurality of longitudinally extending guide bars 9, 9, certain of which, on the left hand side of FIG. 1, are in turn supported by an arcuate shaped left hand hanger 10 while the remaining guide bars 9, 9, on the right hand side of FIG. 1, are in turn supported by an arcuate shaped right hand hanger 11. Also supported by the hanger 11 is a falling bar 12 which is adapted to move downwardly to lower certain yarns below the needle latches after these yarns have been fed to the needles.

Patented Oct. 1, 1968 The upper part of hanger 10 is suitably apertured so as to be rotatably supported on a longitudinally extending shaft 13 which in turn is suitably supported on end plates of the machine. The shaft 13 is disposed so that its axis is directly vertically above and parallel to the longitudinally extending series of latch needles 5 so that the arcuate line 8, which is the path of the yarn guiding terminal eyes of the guides 7, 7, is symmetrical with respect to said needles and passes between their hooks. Oscillation of hanger 10 relative to shaft 13, see FIG. 2, will move the yarn guides 7, 7 supported thereby and cause their terminal yarn guiding eyes, each of which is preferably spaced equidistantly from the axis of shaft 13, to travel along the arcuate path of line 8 and between the hooks of adjacent needles.

The hanger 10 is preferably oscillated by a series of levers and connecting links which are moved by a rotary cam 14 fast on a longitudinally extending rotary shaft 15 suitably journalled in the machine. Hanger 10, by means of link 16, is pivotally interconnected with one end of a lever 17 which in turn is rotatably supported on a lengthwise extending counter shaft 18, also suitably supported in the machine, while the other end of lever 17 is pivotally connected to the upper end of a link 19. The lower end of this link is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 20 the other end of which is rotatably journalled on a lengthwise extending shaft 21, also suitably supported in the machine. Intermediate its length, lever 20 is pivotally interconnected, by means of a link 22, with a fork-shaped lever 23 rotatably supported on a lengthwise extending shaft 24. The opposite forked ends of lever 23 are each provided with a cam follower 25 adapted to be in contact with cam 14, to transmit, through the described levers and links, arcuate movement along the path line 8 for the terminal yarn guiding eyes of the guides 7, 7 on the hanger 10, as determined by the cam 14 appropriately shaped for this purpose.

Should it be desirable to have the lever 17 fixed to the shaft 18, then the latter may be suitably rotatably journalled in the machine to oscillate as the lever 17 is actuated. In this arrangement, other similar hangers 10, disposed longitudinally of the machine, may be suitably connected to the shaft 18 to be oscillated thereby relative to the shaft 13 and a cam 14 will not be required to oscillate each of the hangers 10.

The hanger 11 may be similarly oscillated on common shaft 13, FIG. 3, so that the guides 7, 7, supported by its guide bars 9, 9, cause their terminal yarn guiding eyes to travel along the path line 8 and to this end an additional series of levers and links connect hanger 11 to a rotary cam, similar to the cam 14, on the shaft 15. The hanger 11, which may be an extension of a lever 26, is suitably apertured by means of which it may be rotatably mounted on the shaft 13. Should it be desirable to have the hanger 11 and lever 26 fixed to shaft 13, then the latter may be suitably rotatably journalled in the machine to oscillate as the lever 26 is actuated. The end of lever 26 is pivotally connected to the upper end of a link 27 whose lower end is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 28 the other end of which is also pivotally journalled on the shaft 21. A link 29 is pivotally connected to the lever 28 and to a forked lever similar to the lever 23 and which is adapted to be acted upon by a rotary cam, similar to the cam 14, appropriately shaped to transmit the desired motion to the hanger 11 and to the yarn guides supported on and movable therewtih. As in the case of the yarn guides 7, 7 supported by the hanger 10, the terminal yarn guiding eyes of the guides 7, 7 supported by the hanger 11 are also preferably spaced equidistantly from the axis of the shaft 13.

The above described motions for all the guides 7, 7 will cause their yarn feeding terminal eyes and the yarns fed thereby to travel transversely between the needle hooks along the common path line 8 with the result that the yarns will be fed to the needles 5 in such manner that the angles between the needles and the fed yarns are at a minimum thereby resulting in more uniform fabric with less change for the yarns to be undesirably caught under the needle latches as they are being fed to the needles.

The machine operation of the present invention, with a large number of yarns, is superior to that of the prior art machines wherein a pair of spaced parallel hanger supporting shafts was employed with an oscillatable hanger disposed on each of the shafts. It will be understood that with such use of an individual shaft for each hanger that the path of travel of the yarn guide ends of the guides supported by one hanger is obviously different from that of the yarn guide ends of the guides supported by the other hanger.

I claim:

1. In a Raschel type of straight warp knitting machine having a longitudinally extending series of needles, a plurality of independently oscillatable hangers, a set of yarn guides individually related to and operably supported by and movable with each of said hangers, and means to operably support said hangers to oscillate about a common axis so that the terminal yarn feeding eyes of said sets of yarn guides are caused to move transversely of said needles.

2. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the terminal yarn feeding eyes of said sets of guides are spaced substantially equidistantly from said common axis and are caused to move along a common arcuately spaced path.

3. In a machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein said machine is provided with a common shaft disposed above and parallel to said series of needles and wherein the said hangers are independently oscillatably supported thereon.

4. In a machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein said machine is provided with a common shaft disposed above and parallel to said series of needles, wherein the said hangers are independently oscillatably supported thereon, wherein said machine is provided with rotary cams and wherein said hangers are operably connected to said rotary cams and are caused to be operated thereby to oscillate independently about said common shaft.

5. In a machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein said machine is provided with a common shaft disposed above and parallel to said series of needles and wherein the said hangers are supported thereon, certain of said hangers being disposed so as to oscillate relative to said common shaft.

6. In a machine as set forth in claim 5 wherein said machine is provided with a counter shaft parallel to said common shaft and with a lever oscillatably supported by said counter shaft, said lever being operably connected to said certain hangers to oscillate the same relative to said common shaft.

References Cited MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

R. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner. 

